Chiddy Bang

by David Jeffries
Philadelphia’s clever alt-hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang burst on the scene in early 2010 with their MGMT-sampling track “The Opposite of Adults.” They formed in 2009 as a four-piece electronic-meets-hip-hop group, but by the end of the year they had shrunk to a duo of rapper Chidera “Proto” Anamege and Xaphoon Jones (aka Noah) on production. After building their rep on the Internet by posting tracks like the Tom Waits-sampling “Ice Cream Man,” the band released its The Swelly Express mixtape in October of 2009. Proto’s witty rhymes plus the sampling of indie heroes like Radiohead and Belle & Sebastian became popular talking points, but it was their looping of the MGMT track “Kids” that brought them the most attention, and a massive U.K. hit when “The Opposite of Adults” was released as a single in February 2010. That same month, the Gorillaz single “Stylo,” featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, appeared with Chiddy Bang handling the remix.